Mexico City

Status:

Days on the Road: 90
Travelled Km: 16999
Location: Mexico City, Mexico

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I had a very relaxing week in Corpus Christi. Lots of good food and nice conversations. I was trying hard to find a Way to skip Mexico. Besides some extensive research on the Web I also went to the Port to hang up some Leaflets asking to get on a Ship somehow. So for that matter it is kind of funny that I now ended up right in the Center of Mexico. haha. But I guess that's Life. As time passed and it got more clear that I wont find a Way to go around Mexico the cheap way, I started to look out for some kind of ride shares through Mexico, when this popped up. Amsaa from Morocco (ger) and her friend Patricia from Mexico where planing a road trip for 3 weeks and needed some company. Since I actually really wanted to see Mexico but definitely not by myself this was the perfect opportunity to do it the safe way, although I have no Idea so far how to continue afterwards. Anyway my Host Elizabeth drove me out to the Greyhound station in Corpus. I had a bus ride for 100 bucks to Mexico City. Crossing the Border was a hard piece. Took about two hours. It was totally amazing. We travelled a distance of maybe 2 km but from the environment it looked like we just made 2000 Km. It is a complete different world on the other side of the border. The ride went pretty well until we reached Monterrey. We had to switch buses. The main problem was I did not understand anything. It was a very huge Bus station and it looked like one, but things where going down here the other way. I got of the Bus and a Guy was asking for "Mexico", so I handed him my Ticket as the others did. He took them and then disappeared for 40 min. The whole station was extremely packed and it was more like a market place where the passengers where the "product" that's been traded. I guess it was order through chaos. For the first 30 min, I was pretty lost, until I met some Mexicans that could actually speak English. They hooked me up with two other guys that where going my way as well. Constantly there where bus drivers coming up and sending you over there, and there you got send back. But Finally we got on our bus with 1.5 hrs. delay. What followed was a 12 CONSTANT bus ride. We did not stop once except when they changed the driver for 1 min. When I got off I had the feeling I had to learn walking again. But there I was, tired, hungry and no idea where I was and where to go. I did not had a host so far, only two numbers, but still pending request as well as an emergency request entry. Unfortunately my I could not call the numbers and not send any text with my US phone. So my main goal was to find a place to hook up with the Internet. But as I than learned, this is not so easy. While in every US/CA City you only have to choose the place where to go, here I could not find anything. I walked for about two houres without success. I wasted about 20 pesos on Public phones still without any luck. But then the light returned, somehow Asmaa could receive my text and we set up to meet at 5. I still had a couple of hours to kill but went there anyway. Nearby there was a botanical garden where I walked for two hours and had some fresh chips. When I met with Asmaa we tried her phone and it worked with one nr. So I Finlay had a place to stay. Then we met up with the other two people who come along for the road trip, and later my Host and and two friends joined as well. I then drowned my fear of sleeping on the Mexico City streets with some good tasting Mexican beer. PROST!
Today I started to see the Frida Karlo Museum. On my way there I met a guy who was speaking some good English. He agreed to show me some more of downtown. we walked for maybe two hours while it was raining like hell. After we where done and went seperat ways, my shoes where completely soaked with water and my pants wet up to my knees. So I decided to go back to the Apartment. Now, since I havn´t seen to much of Mexico City, I am thinking about coming back here, because its, as far as I can tell amazing here :) But since I leave tomorrow anyway, I have 3 weeks to think about :)